Merry Christmas!

"Jesus, Lord at Thy birth." #SilentNight

Isaiah 9:6 (ESV) "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Matthew 1:21 (ESV) "She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

1 Corinthians 15:21-22 (ESV) "For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive."

2 Corinthians 9:15 (ESV) "Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!"

"For the gospel teaches that Christ was born for our benefit and that everything He did and suffered was for us. As the angel says here, 'I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you.' With these words, you can clearly see that He was born for all of us. The angel doesn't say, 'A Savior was born,' but rather, 'A Savior has been born to you.' In the same way, he doesn't say, 'I have good news,' but rather, 'I bring you good news.' For you! 'I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.' This joy is for everyone who has this kind of faith. I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord."
-- Martin Luther

"So, this evening we hear the story of the birth of this Christ-Child into human history. And as we hear this story, our hearts and minds bow before the manger knowing that we can never thank Him enough. Our hearts and minds bow before the Christ Child knowing that we cannot give Him anything that would sufficiently thank Him for what He’s done. We bow before the Christ Child knowing that He was born to take our sin, our guilt, and our evil upon Himself – to die and rise for our justification. Indeed, we bow and praise this Christ Child this evening for we would never dare come to Him if He had not come to us first. We bow and praise Him this Christmas Eve knowing that He came to humanity in that manger long ago and comes to us tonight in His Word, to forgive, renew, and bless us with eternal life. Dear friends, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly this evening, teaching and admonishing you in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. In the name of Jesus: Amen."
-- Pastor Matt Richard

"God Became One of Us. The Word of God became flesh and blood, nursed at Mary’s breast, had His diapers changed, and governed the universe from His cradle at the same time. Christ was laid in a manger of wood, pointing to the time He would be laid on a wooden cross. Eight people were saved by the Ark. Israel was saved by the Ark of the Covenant. Now the world is saved by the contents of a wooden manger. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, pointing to the time He would be wrapped in linen cloth in a tomb."
-- Dr. Arthur Just

"THIS festival of the birth of our dear Lord Jesus Christ is instituted among Christians especially that we may preach this history and learn it well, that it may be kept in remembrance by the young and the common people, that it may be impressed upon their hearts, and that they may rightly learn to know their Savior. For although we tell it yearly, yet we cannot sufficiently preach nor learn it."
-- Martin Luther ("First Sermon For Christmas")

From the manger to the cross, Jesus Christ was born so that He could die for you, for me, and for all mankind. Merry CHRISTmas from A Lutheran Layman!



NOTE: Please understand that I'm not a called and ordained minister of God's Word and Sacraments. I'm a layman or just your average everyday Christian, Corporate Healthcare Recruiting Manager, Husband, Father, Friend who lives in the "City of Good Neighbors" here on the East Coast in Buffalo, NY. As another Christian Blogger once wrote, "Please do not see this blog as me attempting to 'publicly teach' the faith, but view it as 'an informal Public Journal of sorts' about my own experiences and journey." So if any of my notes here help you in any way at all, then I say, "Praise the Lord! Thanks be to God!" but please do double check them against the Word of God and with your own Pastor at all times. Trust, but always verify. To be more specific, and relevant to the point I want to make with this lengthy disclaimer/note, please understand that I'm a relatively new convert to "Confessional Lutheranism" and one who recently escaped an American-Evangelical-Non-Denominational mindset a little more than 9 years ago now despite being a Christian my whole life. That being said, please contact me ASAP if you're a Lifelong Lutheran who believes that any of my "old beliefs" seem to have crept their way back into any of the material you see published here, and especially if any of the content is inconsistent with the Bible, our Confessions, and Lutheran doctrine in general (in other words, if it's not consistent with God's Word, which our Confessions merely summarize and repeatedly point us back to over and over again) so that I can not only correct those errors immediately and not lead any of His little ones astray (James 3:1), but so that I can also repent of my sin and learn the whole truth myself. With that in mind, please be aware that you might also discover that some of the earlier/older pieces I wrote for this blog back in 2013 definitely fall into that "Old Evangelical Adam" category (and they don't have a disclaimer like this) since I was a "Lutheran-In-Name-Only" at the time and was completely oblivious to the fact that a Christian "Book of Concord" even existed (Small/Large Catechism? What's that!?!). This knowledge of the Lutheran B-A-S-I-C-S was completely foreign to me even though I was baptized, confirmed, and married in an LCMS church! So, there are some entries that are a little more "out there" so-to-speak since the subject matter was also heavily influenced by those old beliefs of mine. I know that now and I'm still learning. Anyway, I decided to leave those published posts up on this website and in cyberspace only because they are not blasphemous/heretical demanding I correct them or take them down entirely, but because I now have this disclaimer, and only to demonstrate the continuing and sanctifying work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in my life from then until now (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6). Most importantly, please know that any time I engage in commenting on and/or interpreting a specific portion of the Holy Scriptures, it will always closely follow the verse-by-verse footnotes from my own Lutheran Study Bible and/or include references to the Book of Concord unless otherwise noted. Typically, I will defer to what other Lutheran Pastors both past and present have already preached and taught about such passages too since they are the called and ordained under-shepherds of our souls here on earth. Finally, I'm going to apologize ahead of time for the length of most entries (this disclaimer/note is a perfect example of what I mean by that! haha). I'm well aware that blogs should be short, sweet, and to the point, but I've never been one to follow the rules when it comes to writing. Besides, this website is more like a "Christian Dude's Diary" in the sense that everything I write about and share publicly isn't always what's "popular" or "#Trending" at the time, but is about all the things that I'm studying or thinking about myself at the moment instead. For better or for worse, these posts tend to be much longer than most blog entries you'll find elsewhere only because I try to pack as much info as possible into a single piece so that I can refer to it again and again over time if I need to (and so that it can be a valuable resource for others -- if possible, a "One-Stop-Shop" of sorts where I've done all the research for you already to help save you valuable time). Thank you for stopping by and thank you in advance for your time, help, and understanding. Feel free to comment/email me at any time. Grace and peace to you and yours!